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Color us intrigued…

The very clever JC Briar has just launched her latest project: Stitch Maps. A totally different way of presenting knitting charts, they are gridless, so that you can not only represent the stitches, but also the shape and flow of the fabric…

Apparently, the Norwegians love boring… err… meditative TV. Although this piece on the Wall Street Journal feels like an April Fool’s joke, I checked the calendar, and it’s definitely not. The genre, known as “slow” television, is embraced as a break from “the crazy media world”. The first hit show of the genre ran in 2009 – a full live stream of a 7-hour train ride from Oslo to Bergen, as viewed from a camera on the top of a train. In the planning for the upcoming season includes a show watching ‘experts’ knit.

The stitch map is not a new idea, although it may be new to knitting. Crochet charts have been done this way for a long time, with different symbols to represent the stitches in crochet, of course. (In crochet this type of chart is usually referred to as a “stitch diagram.”)

I’m both a crocheter and a knitter, and have no problem reading both kinds of charts, but I think the “stitch map” type of chart used in crochet is more intuitive to read. I really hope this catches on for knitting patterns!

I have to say that my first reaction to the stitch maps was, “Holy mother of cats!! Now I have to learn a whole ‘nother way of reading a pattern!?! I am NOT DOING THAT.” And then I mumbled something to myself about just knitting for once and not having to have ‘learning experiences’ all the time… and… then it looked kind of interesting. As a lace designer, it seems like they ‘d be really hard to write up, but possibly more expressive. And yet potentially harder for a knitter to read – I use highlighter tape, which is straight, no curvy. I am not sure how one would delineate the “repeat area”. Looks like some experimenting is in order. Interesting concept!

As a knitter and not a designer, I tried one of the chart (vortex) on the stitch maps site and I found it so much easier to read than usual grids that some grey squares when a new stitch appears… I loved it. Thank you for introducing this site!